Doctor Who: Number Fifteen
by Neckee777
Summary: A few regenerations after Peter Capaldi's Doctor, a new Doctor takes to the TARDIS. Together with companion Cassie, the Doctor must work to save the Universe from foes both old and new, with as much wit, sarcasm, and style as possible.
1. Chapter 1

**_Prologue…_**

The TARDIS was groaning and wheezing, seeming to – not for the first time – fight the Doctor's every command. The Time Lord danced about the controls wildly, trying in vain to get the TARDIS to just _stop_ flying about uncontrollably.

Cassie clung onto a railing for dear life, hoping with everything she had that this time, maybe just _once,_ the Doctor actually knew what he was doing. Even though the notion that he didn't know how to fly this machine was absurd, one was always given room to wonder.

"Land!" the Doctor yelled, obviously frustrated. "Why won't you just _land_?"

The TARDIS wheezed some more.

"Oh, no, don't talk back to me, you do _not_ talk back to me."

Cassie sighed. There he was… speaking with his box again…

She looked at the alien man prancing about, with his scraggy, dirty blond hair, and his blue-gold eyes, and the navy blue suit coat he was so insistent on wearing, even though it definitely didn't match his black jeans or his Volleys.

What a strange man she'd encountered and befriended…

The control console sparked, and the Doctor recoiled in shock before diving straight back to wrestle with the controls.

"Doctor, what's going on?!" Cassie demanded.

"Just a little… glitch… in the Jumper Matrix," he said as nonchalantly as he could, with the Irish accent he claimed hadn't been there until he regenerated.

"You call this a glitch? And what the hell is the Jumper Matrix?"

The Doctor looked confused. "Uh… are you sure you want me to answer that?"

"You don't know, do you?"

"Well of course I _know,_ I just, y'know… can't exactly remember it right now."

Cassie rolled her eyes.

For what had to be the millionth time, she looked back on the events that had led her here, led her to be in such a dangerous and ridiculous situation. For what had to be the millionth time, she looked back on how she'd met him. How she'd met the Doctor…


	2. Chapter 2

**_Episode One: The New Doctor_**

The alarm that cut through her sleep may as well have been a cold bath to Cassie Carter. She lay in bed and groaned, trying desperately to dispel the fog of last nights' bad decisions.

She sat up in bed and racked her brain. Last night…

What had happened last night?

After a few minutes of thinking and getting absolutely nothing, Cassie decided the best remedy for her was a long, hot shower.

She turned the hot water on and stood in the shower, taking the time to soak and wash before getting out to do her hair and brush her teeth.

She was midway through her ritual morning dental hygiene when her phone rang, and when she checked the contact she rolled her eyes to the heavens.

 _Why do I make friends with these people?_

She answered the phone.

"Hey, Gianna," she said politely enough.

"Cassie!" Gianna's overly enthusiastic voice came, making Cassie squirm. "The girls and I totally lost sight of you last night. What happened? Did you meet a guy?"

 _A guy? Sounds familiar…_

Cassie rubbed her forehead. "Can you give me a minute, G?"

"Sure, sure," Gianna said.

"Thanks."

Cassie quickly finished brushing her teeth and spat out the toothpaste foam. She washed her mouth, checked her pearly whites in the mirror, and went back to her phone.

"Ok, hi, back. What were you saying?"

"You, last night babe," Gianna said in a tone that implied she was trying to be seductive. "The girls and I were at the bar, and when we looked around you were gone. Brooke said she saw you leave with a guy. I thought it was very unlike you but you never know."

Cassie was shaking her head. "No, I don't think so, G. I really don't think I met a… guy…" She trailed off.

"What is it, Cas?" Gianna asked. "You ok babe?"

Cassie wasn't listening. In front of her, tossed willy-nilly on one of the dining chairs in her flat, Cassia saw an outfit that _definitely_ didn't belong to her: a navy blue suit coat, black jeans, a white button-up, and an old pair of Dunlop Volleys.

"You've got to be kidding me…" Cassie said to herself.

There was no doubt about it.

She'd had an encounter with a guy.

"Cas?" Gianna was saying. "Cas? You there?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm still here," Cassie said. "I think you're right." She said at length. "I did meet a guy."

"Haha! I knew it!" Gianna cried. "So, how was he?"

"I, uh… I don't remember."

"Oh, Cassie, you party animal."

"Yeah," Cassie said, bemused at the title. "That's me."

"Ok, look babe, I'm gonna be round at yours in a few minutes, we'll go into town and get some coffee, yeah? Maybe I can help you put the pieces of last night back into place. Sound good?"

"Yeah, good enough for me," Cassie shrugged.

"Cool babe. I'll be around in fifteen. See you then."

"Bye."

Cassie hit the red button on her phone, hanging up on her overly excitable and wildly immature friend. She looked at herself in the mirror, asking herself the same question she'd asked only five minutes prior.

 _Why do I make friends with this people?_

Before long she was dressed and waiting for Gianna outside her building, completely oblivious to the blue police box that was materialising three floors up, in her apartment.

* * *

The Doctor opened the TARDIS door and stuck his head out, surveying the scene in front of him. In his less than humble opinion, there was nothing spectacular to report. Plain tiled walls, some towels, a really messy sink, a shower with a leaky head, and more stuff of that calibre.

The Doctor stepped out of the TARDIS, his body completely naked other than the tighty-whities he'd found in one of the TARDIS's many wardrobes.

"A bathroom?" He asked to no one in particular. "Y'know, you've parked in a lot of tight spaces but a bathroom has got to be a step down, don't you think?"

He turned around and looked at the TARDIS.

The globe on top was flickering dimly, and the usual wheezing sound that came from the box was slower and more sluggish.

"I get it," the Doctor whispered. "You're sick. Well, you just take the time to heal up then, yeah? I'll find some clothes, then maybe we can get out of here. It's been a while since we've visited the fire pools of Ignoromia, eh? I reckon we'll go there. Once you've fixed yourself up. Maybe one of these days I'll have a peaceful regeneration…" He added under his breath.

He shuffled along to the door, stopping when he noticed the bathroom's mirror.

"Oh, hello you."

He looked at himself, trying to understand and commit to memory his appearance this time round.

"It's not too bad. Could be worse, could be uglier. Blond hair, blue eyes… If I ever go back to World War Two I'm in for a treat. No, don't make those jokes, Doctor, too soon. Wait, what year is it?"

He checked his wrist, but there wasn't a watch to check.

"Why don't I have a watch?" He asked, incredulous. "I need a watch."

He continued out of the bathroom and opened the door to the rest of the flat. While messy, his initial impression was that it was rather homey. From his surroundings he could distinguish that it was either the early 2000's, or the 4500's where this type of retro technology was highly coveted by upper class colonists.

He'd stepped straight into what appeared to be someone's bedroom, and if not then the bed was a _massive_ red herring. But then… Eskolorians had beds, and they slept hanging upside down from hooks on their ceilings, so…

The Doctor put the thoughts at the back of his mind and continued into the bedroom, making a beeline straight for an opened wardrobe at the far side of the room.

"Ok, let's see here…" He muttered, pulling clothes out of the wardrobe.

He'd been into the wardrobes in the TARDIS, but the chaotic nature of his regeneration had left a lot of the clothes there out of order. All he'd managed to salvage was the pair of underwear that he was currently wearing, and it all honesty he was getting tired of keeping his Sonic Screwdriver in the waistband of said underwear. Granted, it'd only been a few minutes, but the metal was cold.

The Doctor tried on an outfit, and looked in the full body mirror that adorned the inside of the wardrobe's door.

"Not exactly shape-fitting," he said, not aware that he was in fact wearing a dress. "A lot of freedom though, and the material's lightweight. But… it's red. Not my colour. And too much room at the front. What am I ever gonna use that for?" He waited some moments, contemplating the outfit in his head. "Nah."

He took it off and put on something new.

"This is a little better. More fabric. And tighter."

It was true, the sports bra and training pants he'd chosen did fit better, and was easier to move in. He had a long skirt draped around his shoulders, and a thoughtful look on his face.

"But then it shows a little too much skin. And I think the cape is a bit much."

The Doctor sighed and took the outfit off, moving into the wardrobe to pick out something else.

* * *

Down at the local police station, Stanley was flicking through case file on the towns most recent murder – the fourth this month.

The police had been doing everything to cover the murders up. Not because they felt the public shouldn't know, but because all the murder victims had been killed in the most grotesque way. Whenever the police caught wind that someone had been killed, they were already too late. At every crime scene there was no sign of a struggle and no evidence to suggest who or what had killed the victim. All they had was the state of victims body: missing all muscle tissue and vital organs, eyes absent from their sockets, literally just a bag of skin and bones. Everything else had just… vanished.

"What have we got, Stanley?" Lieutenant Skinner said, appearing behind Stanley.

"Another murder, sir," Stanley replied.

"The same as the last?"

"Yes sir. Completely cleaned out with no trace as to who the murderer is."

Lieutenant Skinner was deep in thought. "I hate to give you a cold case, Stanley, but I need you to follow this up for me."

"Of course, sir."

"Alright. Good man." Skinner turned to leave.

"Wait! Sir," Stanley interrupted.

"Yes, Stanley?"

"It's just that… there's something different about this case. Something we haven't had before."

"And that would be?"

"A witness, sir. Someone claims to have seen the murderer."

"Then track them down, and we can finally find out who is up to these killings."

"I already have, sir. And with respect, sir, I don't think it's a matter of _who_ is up to these killings, but a matter of _what_ is up to these killings."

" _What_ is up to these killings?" Lieutenant Skinner questioned.

"Yes, sir," Stanley affirmed. "The description the witness gave to me seemed to imply that our killer is quite, uh…" He trailed off.

"Quite what, Stanley?"

Stanley met the Lieutenants eyes.

"Quite alien, sir."

* * *

"Nothing works. Why does nothing work?" the Doctor questioned, looking disappointedly at the pile of clothes that he'd rejected.

He was standing once more in just his tighty-whities, his Sonic Screwdriver tucked into the waistband at his hip.

The Doctor sighed and licked his lip, then he opened and closed his mouth a few times.

"Thirsty," he said at last. "That's funny, I didn't know this body would get thirsty. Don't be stupid, Doctor, everyone gets thirsty."

He exited the bedroom into a joint kitchen/living area, and made straight for the fridge. He opened it, letting the refrigerator light hit him.

"Milk," he said, taking the carton and opening the lid. Without even bothering to find a glass, he put the carton to his lips and drank. By the time he was finished, the three-litre carton was missing half of its milk.

He checked the label on the milk to find a date.

"Best before the 13th of July, 2015," he muttered. "So it has to be around that time…"

Regardless of the milk bottle, something about where he was was putting him off. Something was giving him a vibe. Yes, the Doctor could definitely sense something that was not at all human about this place.

Remembering that he wasn't human made him put the thought at the back of his mind, and his jumbled train of thought returned to the problem at hand: finding something to wear.

The Doctor turned around, and – as if his prayers had been answered – came into sight of an outfit just thrown carelessly over a chair.

"Oh yes," the Doctor said. "This might just work."

Some minutes later he was wearing the outfit. He looked in the mirror, admiring himself as he was. Navy blue suit coat, black jeans, shoes, and a comfortable shirt. In his own opinion he looked rather… splendid.

He put the Sonic Screwdriver in the inside pocket of his new coat and turned to make his way back to the bathroom, to the TARDIS.

That is when he heard a key go into the lock of the front door. The door opened, and a girl walked in. And she looked very surprised to see him there.

* * *

If there was one thing Cassie wasn't expecting to find when she got home from coffee, that thing was a man standing in the middle of her flat.

The man was tall and lanky, with scruffy blond hair and blue eyes, and he was young – possibly in his mid-twenties. And then Cassie's eyes fell to what he was wearing, and a wave of panic came over her.

 _Was this the guy I brought home last night?_

"Uh… hello," the man said politely. "I don't believe we've met before. I'm the Doctor."

Cassie inwardly let out a sigh of relief. So he didn't remember last night either.

"Hi?" Cassie replied, utterly confused. "Uh, how did you get in?"

The man – the Doctor, he called himself – looked desperately around the room until his eyes landed on the front door.

"The door was unlocked," he said with a smile.

"No it wasn't, I just unlocked it to come in."

"Oh, so you did, well, uh… You see, it was unlocked when I came in, and then I locked it again, just in case."

"Just in case of what?"

"Oh, you know. Robbers, murderers, aliens, vampires, the like. Anyway, I'll be going now," he said quickly, making towards the door. He spun around when he got to the doorway, facing her again. "Actually no, I can't go, I need to uh… Oh… Could I use your bathroom?"

Cassie blinked a few times. "Um… ok, sure. Just around the corner, you'll see it."

"Thank you very much," the Doctor said, racing away back into the apartment.

Cassie blinked some more.

Had she really taken this man home last night? He was quite…. Strange… and while not particularly _unattractive_ he just simply didn't seem like the kind of guy Cassie could see herself with.

"I am never going clubbing with Gianna and the girls ever again," she said to herself, shedding her coat and putting her purse on the dining table.

A wheezing and groaning came from the bathroom, causing Cassie to jump in fright.

"What the hell is that?"

She went to the bathroom door and put her ear up to it.

"Work, why won't you just _work_?" the Doctor yelled. "I know you're sick but we really need to _go_."

Cassie knocked on the door. "Is everything all right in there?"

"Yes, everything's fine, thank you for asking," the Doctor replied.

Cassie shook her head.

How did he say he got in again?

The door was unlocked?

Something just didn't feel right here…

She knocked again. "I'm sorry, Doctor, but you really need to leave."

"I'm working on it," the Doctor yelled, and that wheezing sound followed.

Cassie knocked harder. "I'm going to have to insist that you leave. _Now!_ "

The Doctor cracked open the door.

"Of course," he said at length, sliding out between the small space he'd given himself. "I apologise for my rudeness."

Cassie smiled thinly and gestured toward the front door.

"Oh," the Doctor said. "You mightn't want to go in there for a while."

A disgusted look befell Cassie's face as she followed the Doctor to the door. If this was the man she met last night, she wanted nothing more than to get him out of the apartment.

She opened the door for him.

"There," she said. "You have a good day."

"And you," the Doctor bowed slightly.

Just at that moment, both the Doctor and Cassie heard a terrified scream come from the next apartment along, followed quickly by a sickening, slurping sound, and then a thud.

The Doctor raced to the door and tried the doorknob. It was locked.

"I knew there was something wrong with this place," he said, taking from the inside of his coat a metal stick-looking thing with a light globe at the tip.

Cassie watched as he pointed the globe at the doorknob. The light flickered on, and a high-pitched whirring sound emitted from the device.

"C'mon, c'mon," the Doctor urged, but the device sparked once and the light faded.

"Oh, you've got to be joking. First the TARDIS, now the Sonic…"

"I'm sorry, what?" Cassie questioned.

"I've no time to explain it to you now, you'll have to wait until after we get in here," the Doctor said. He rammed his shoulder into the door and the old wood began to give way. He did again, and then once more, and the door finally burst open.

Cassie sped into the room behind the Doctor, and was terrified at what she saw.

Crouching over the body of the neighbour Cassie hardly knew was something she never would have thought could've existed. The alien's skin was tight around its skeleton, revealing ridges of bones. It had four arms, each with a hand of three fingers that were tipped with what looked like claws. Its two feet were similar to that of an orang-utan, and its face was eyeless, with a mouth full of needle-like teeth.

"What is that thing?" Cassie asked quietly.

The creature screeched at the Doctor and Cassie. It scampered across the wooden floor and jumped out of an already broken window, onto the wall of the building next to this one. It gripped onto the brickwork with its six limbs and climbed up the face of the building with more dexterity that anything on this earth could muster.

The Doctor moved over to the pile of skin and inspected it.

"A Dolfaxon. They're like a… a virus. Genderless, asexual, breeding massive numbers inside the host," he looked and saw Cassie's clueless expression. "They're aliens," he remedied. "But… they're not supposed to turn up to Earth for another thirty thousand years..."

"How do you know it's an alien?" Cassie asked.

"Because I'm an alien, too."

The silence that filled the room after that was unbearable. The Doctor kept inspecting the sack of a body that the creature had left on the ground, and Cassie had taken a seat up against a wall, trying to fully understand what it was she'd seen and heard.

"The thing with Dolfaxon's is that only the parents come out of the hive. They find a place to burrow down for however long it takes them to build up a large enough army to kill the entire planet. There's normally only one parent, so that makes it harder to track. If the Sonic was working then maybe we'd have a chance, but… If we find the hive…" The Doctor was muttering, more to himself than to Cassie.

Cassie swallowed hard. "If you're an alien," she started slowly. "Then why do you look so human? What are you?"

The Doctor looked at Cassie and smiled humorously. "The real question is: why do you look so Time Lord?"

He went back to examining the body.

"So that's what you are, then?" Cassie pushed. "A Time Lord?"

"Indeed," the Doctor said, not looking up. "The last. Well, not really. But yes really. It's complicated."

"Does this happen a lot when you go places?" Cassie said, gesturing to the body the Doctor was inspecting.

"More than I'd care to admit," the Doctor said. "But then I've only ever had a run in with the Dolfaxon's once before. Which leads me to my next question." He stood up and brushed down his coat. "Have there been any other murders recently?"

Cassie shook her head slowly. "Not that I'm aware of. There's been nothing in the news."

"Interesting," the Doctor murmured. He held out both of his hands, and, after some hesitation, Cassie gripped them, and he pulled her to her feet.

"It's occurred to me that I don't actually know your name," the Doctor said.

Cassie opened her mouth to respond, but paused.

Did she really want to get dragged into this?

She shrugged, figuring she had hardly anything to lose.

"I'm Cassie Carter," she said.

The Doctor smiled. "Well, hello Cassie Carter. I'm the Doctor, but of course you already knew that. I'm glad your name is easy to say."

 _Does he ramble all the time?_

"Cassie, as I've said already, what you just saw is a Dolfaxon. As I've said already, it's like a virus, and like I've said already, only the parent goes out. What Dolfaxon's do to feed their own is rather nasty. This poor gentleman here has had all of his internal organs and muscle tissue and fat sucked out from the inside of his body through the holes where his eyes used to be. The Dolfaxon's use all of this… material, so to speak, to feed each other, and strengthen each other. _If_ the Dolfaxon army that is hiding out somewhere in this town gets strong enough, it could destroy Earth as you know it. So my question to _you_ Cassie Carter is this: what should we do now?"

Cassie looked from the Doctor to the body and back to the Doctor again.

"I think we should call the police," she said.

The Doctor clicked his fingers. "The police! That's a good idea! They'll be able to tell us if there have been any other murders of this kind. You get onto that; I'll be right back. I just have to collect a few things."

Cassie took her phone from her pocket and dialled the number for the police.

The Doctor slipped out of the apartment and paced back into Cassie's bathroom, where the TARDIS was still waiting.

"I know you're sick," the Doctor started softly. "But I really need you to get me your key and my paper."

The light atop the TARDIS flickered, and the tiny phone door popped open. Inside was the key to the TARDIS, and a piece of paper in a leather wallet.

"Thank you," the Doctor said. "Also, here you go."

He put the broken Sonic Screwdriver in the door and shut it again.

Without taking time to wait, the Doctor paced back to the apartment with the body and Cassie.

"The police are on their way," Cassie said.

"Good, good," the Doctor replied.

He went and sat down in a corner, cross-legged.

"What are you doing?" Cassie asked.

"I'm trying to think of a way I can save your planet."

* * *

Stanley arrived at the apartment building, and after being buzzed in by reception he trudged up the stairs.

Three storeys later, he was at the floor he needed to be. And he didn't have a shadow of a doubt as to why he was here.

The girl he'd spoken to on the phone had said there'd been a murder. When he asked for details she just said he needed to see it to believe it.

He found the apartment without a worry, and when he entered he was greeted by a blonde-haired woman who introduced herself as Cassie. She pointed to a man sitting in the corner and introduced him as the Doctor, before finally gesturing to the body on the floor.

Stanley sighed in defeat and took a photo of the body, before he took out his notebook and started scribbling down the details of the murder.

The Doctor stood from his corner and approached the police officer.

"Hello, I'm the Doctor," he said.

"I know, mate, your friend told me," the officer said. "I'm Stanley. Give me a couple of minutes and I'll get the rest of the forensic team here, and we'll be out of your hair as soon as we can."

"That's not what I came to ask," the Doctor said. "No, I'm wondering if there have been other murders similar to this one recently. Perhaps going back a week or a month?"

Stanley shook his head. "Sorry mate. That's classified information."

The Doctor took the paper from one of his pockets and flashed it to Stanley.

"Nothing's classified for me, sonny-Jim. I'm the Doctor, I lead a high-end forensic investigation team in Scotland –"

"Ireland," Cassie coughed next to him.

"Ireland," the Doctor rectified quickly.

Stanley looked flabbergasted. "I am so sorry, sir, I didn't realise," he said apologetically. He gestured to the body. "This is the fifth murder of this kind in the last month."

"All the same?" The Doctor questioned.

"Yes, sir."

"And have there been any other murders prior to this month?"

"No, sir."

"Ok, good, thank you Larry."

"Stanley, sir."

"Stanley. Of course. That's what I said," the Doctor quipped. "Now, you go back to doing what you were doing, my associate and I are going to have a discussion outside."

The Doctor turned and left, leaving Cassie and Stanley alone.

"Associate," the Doctor called.

"Oh, he means me," Cassie muttered, smiling politely to Stanley before turning and following the Doctor.

"What was that back there?" She questioned.

"Slightly Psychic Paper," the Doctor grinned childishly. "Makes them see whatever I want them to believe. Thanks for the save back there, by the way. I was under the impression this accent was Scottish."

"How could you not know what your own accent is?"

"Well, it's reasonably new. Regeneration changes things, you see."

"Regeneration?" Cassie was finding this guys story harder and harder to believe.

"Yes, regeneration, it' what Time Lord's do. When we die, we regenerate, but enough on that," he said. "Tony said that this is the fifth murder that the Dolfaxon has committed, that's enough to breed at least five hundred more Dolfaxon's."

"Five hundred?" Cassie asked incredulously.

"It doesn't take a lot to keep the nourished," the Doctor admitted. "To my understanding, Dolfaxon's like moist environments. They reproduce in water, and then move outwards from there. Kind of like frogs and tadpoles, but frogs and tadpoles don't eat your insides and destroy your planet."

"You're such a positive person," Cassie said dryly.

"I try. Now," the Doctor clapped his hands together. "Do you know of anywhere nearby that would play host to a large body of water, and by extension a species of killer aliens?"

Cassie thought for a while. "There _is_ a hydroelectricity plant that they've started building a few kilometres out of town. It's a council project, built next to a river that cuts the town in half. It was on the news! They had to build a dam to store more water to make more energy."

"A dam!" The Doctor yelled. "Of course, a dam! Can you take me?"

"I'll get my car."

* * *

The hydroelectricity plant was a small-scale council project that was trialling the uses of clean energy to power parts of the town. If that went well, the plan was to pump more money into the project so that the entire town might be able to run on cleaner, more sustainable energy. It was a gamble, everyone knew, but with the condition of the planet getting worse everyone was open to taking a few risks.

Cassie and the Doctor pulled up outside the construction site in Cassie's second hand Ford. The duo got out and observed.

"No one's at work…" Cassie wondered aloud.

"Quite right," the Doctor nodded.

He moved to the fence that had been erected around the site and found the gate. He tested the padlock, and finding that it was unlocked, opened the gate and entered.

"Doctor!" Cassie hissed. "We can't go in there."

"Sure we can," the Doctor said. "The gate's unlocked. Whether or not we're _allowed_ is an entirely different question."

The Doctor turned and started to walk again, and after a moment of deliberation, Cassie followed hurriedly.

They found a door that led into the parts of the construction site that were already built and entered, surprised that this entry point was unlocked as well.

They followed the hall in the building, turning with the arrows that they assumed led to the control room of the plant.

"I've got a bad feeling about this…" Cassie whispered.

"I know," the Doctor said. "Isn't it great?"

Cassie had to agree. Through the feeling of ever-present danger, Cassie was enjoying the thrill and the adrenaline that came from this endeavour. It was so unlike her to go out of her way on adventures with strange men, but she knew that this was something she could get used to.

They rounded a bend, finally making it to the control room of the dam. The room was about ten metres wide on each side, and a window looked into the inner-workings of the dam.

"Oh boy," the Doctor said.

Cassie nodded in agreement, mouth agape.

Lining the pipes and walls of the inside of the dam were soft-looking eggs, all with life visibly growing within them. Littered across the floor were floating sacks of skin and bone, and swimming around in the canals was the parent Dolfaxon, completely unaware that it had visitors.

"The workers…" Cassie whispered, the shock of what she was seeing getting to her.

The Doctor hushes her and put a reassuring arm around her shoulder.

"It's too late for them, Cassie," he said, matching her whisper. "But together we can work to stop this in front of us from becoming the rest of the planet. Do you hear me?"

Cassie nodded, hands covering her mouth.

"Now, the Dolfaxon's have consumed so many more people than we could have originally thought. There have got to be tens of thousands of eggs out there. Hold on," the Doctor paused.

"What's wrong?" Cassie asked weakly.

The Doctor moved forward, surveying the canals.

"The parent isn't there anymore."

"What does that mean?"

"It's either gone out to feed," the Doctor said, turning around slowly. "Or it's in here with us."

Both Cassie and the Doctor looked up, only to find the six-limbed alien clinging to the ceiling, looking at them both with its eyeless face.

"Run!" The Doctor yelled, and the Dolfaxon jumped on him, pinning him to the ground with its arms and legs, its mouth opening to deliver the final blow.

The Doctor wriggled his hands from the creatures grip and used them to hold the face back. The Dolfaxon started taking bites of thin air, its preys hands keeping it from getting anything of worth.

"Cassie! Get out of here!" The Doctor shouted.

Cassie was rigged to the spot, paralysed with the fear of what she was seeing. Her mind replayed the memories of today.

 _"They're like a… a virus."  
_

Cassie's eyes widened.

 _Of course!_

"Doctor!" Cassie yelled, running behind the control board. "You said the Dolfaxon's are like a virus, right?"

"Yes, I did," the Doctor grunted, trying to keep the alien's mouth away from him "I also said to you that you should _run_."

"When you get a virus," Cassie started. "You get a fever."

"Yes, it's the body raising its core temperature to…" The Doctor's eyes widened. "Oh, Cassie, you're a _genius_!"

Cassie smiled. "Which of these buttons sends the dam up in smoke?"

"I don't know," the Doctor admitted, still struggling with the Dolfaxon. "Just… hit all of them."

Cassie nodded, and rubbed her hands over every button on the control panel.

The panel beeped and whirred and sparked, too many commands being sent through the computer at once.

Cassie ran to another control panel and did the same, and then she did the same to third.

The panels were sparking uncontrollably now, and the electrical wires in the walls were bursting.

The Doctor threw the Dolfaxon off of him and stood.

He ran and gripped Cassie's hand, before taking off as fast as he could back down the way they had come as the dam crumbled and fell behind them.

They got outside, and the Doctor pushed Cassie on.

"Behind the car, go!"

Cassie ran around the car while the Doctor just leapt over it. They both took cover and waited.

Nothing happened.

The Doctor stuck his head out.

"Oh, you've got to be ki—"

An explosion erupted from the dam, and the Doctor ducked back down, laughing like a child as a column of flame destroyed the dam from the inside.

The shockwave rocked the car somewhat, and threw Cassie's hair about her face, and even though the situation was pretty bad, Cassie laughed as well.

The Doctor and Cassie peeked above the car at the wreck the dam had become. Steam and smoke drifted up from the rubble into the afternoon air.

"You did it, Cassie," the Doctor said, a ridiculous smile painting his face. "You saved the planet."

* * *

Soon, the Doctor and Cassie were back at Cassie's apartment. On the way Cassie had asked about the Doctor, what he did, where he went, where he was from, and the Doctor had answered as much as he'd been willing too, but the more they talked, the more the two grew closer.

"So this is it?" Cassie asked once they were in her bathroom. "This is your… time machine?"

"Yes, it is," the Doctor said proudly, resting a hand on the TARDIS. "And it looks as if she's all better."

"She?" Cassie questioned.

The Doctor ignored her, and instead fished a key from his pocket and slot it into the keyhole of the police box. He unlocked the TARDIS and held open the door.

"Do you want to look?" The Doctor asked.

Cassie's head was swimming. A time machine? A real life _time machine_?

"Oh, hell yes," she said, and she stepped into the TARDIS.

Looking around, her breath got caught in her throat.

She turned and stepped out, looking at the Doctor, who was smiling.

"It's bigger on the inside." She stated.

"Yep," the Doctor said. "I told you so."

He stepped passed her, into the TARDIS.

"So," he said, turning to her. "Do you want to come?"

"With you? All over the place?"

"Anywhere in space and time," the Doctor confirmed.

Cassie thought about what she'd be giving up. She thought about her mediocre life, her immature and unknowing friends, but then she thought about what would happen if she went back to it all. After the events of today, how could she do it?

The Doctor smiled. "Come on."

He stepped into the TARDIS, and without thinking anymore, Cassie followed.

"So," the Doctor said, taking a stick from the centre console that looked similar to the one that had broken just earlier that day. He flipped in the air, caught it, and placed it in his inside coat pocket. "Where do you want to go? Perhaps you want to see something from Earths history. Perhaps you want to pick a star and go there. Or… maybe you just want to be surprised?"

Cassie looked around the TARDIS, and then to the Doctor. She smiled.

The Doctor returned the smile slyly and pulled a lever.

"Surprise it is."


	3. Chapter 3

**_Episode Two: The Worms_**

On the Delta-Prime Mining Colony lights were spinning, people were running, and sirens were blaring.

Another earthquake.

Craig Anderson raced down the halls of the West Wing, trying to stay on his feet as he ran to the Main Building, and to the Command Room.

Anderson slammed into the double-reinforced, vacuum-sealed titanium doors of the Command Room. He hurriedly typed his access code into the keypad, and with a blare the doors opened.

"What's going on?" Anderson addressed the question to a redheaded woman sitting behind a computer screen.

The woman typed a few commands. "It's the Worms again, sir. They're attacking the drills."

"And the miners?"

"Safe and accounted for, bar thirteen," a man on the other side of the room offered.

"Well can we get them out?" Anderson questioned.

"Not right now, sir," the woman responded. "We'll have to wait for the worms to burrow back down into the asteroid."

"But it might be too late by that time!"

All the woman could do was shrug. "Sorry, sir. There's nothing we can do about it right now."

Anderson scowled.

The blasted Worms had started attacking the mines a few days ago. When they came they brought earthquakes and chaos with them. They heralded destruction.

Anderson was thinking about the situation at hand.

"How do we get rid of the Worms?"

* * *

Cassie watched, bored, as the Doctor put the finishing touches on a watch he'd built. It was his second watch – the first being a Hello Kitty watch he'd found under the control console of the TARDIS – and he wore them both on his left wrist.

The Doctor took out his weird metal stick and pointed it at the watch. He pressed a button and the purple light at its tip lit up, a high-pitched whirring coming with it. The Doctor pressed another button and the device elongated, and a trio of metal prongs sprung from the sides.

"And… Synchronised," the Doctor said, shortening the device and placing it in his inside coat pocket.

"Are we there yet?" Cassie asked, caring less about the Doctor's new watch. "It's been an hour already. I thought travelling through space and time would be, well, instant."

"And normally it is," the Doctor said, standing up. "But the TARDIS has only just healed itself. It needs to travel through the Space-Time Vortex for a while to get its bearings, so to speak."

"The Space-Time Vortex?" Cassie questioned. "That's what it's called?"

"I don't exactly remember, but it sounds official doesn't it?" The Doctor said excitedly.

"I'm thirsty," Cassie stated, moving away from the previous topic.

"There's a keyboard over on the other side of the control console, just type in 'beverage' and whatever it is you want to drink."

Cassie moved to where the Doctor described and found a typewriter keyboard.

"Oh," the Doctor remembered. "Also, 'beverage' has to be in upper case, your drink has to be in lower case, and there has to be a full stop between them. But there's no space between the full stop and the lower case word."

"Does it really have to be written like that?" Cassie asked.

"Yes. Maybe. Probably not, but it's better to be safe than sorry," the Doctor said.

Cassie rolled her eyes and began to punch in the letters to presumably get her drink.

There was a bell sound and a little compartment opened beneath the keyboard. A platform slid out, and on the platform was a mug filled with tea.

"That's pretty fancy," Cassie smiled, taking a sip from the cup. Her smile dropped. "This tea is cold."

The Doctor pranced over and pulled out his metal stick. He pointed it at the tea, and the purple light turned on, instantly followed by the high-pitched whirring sound. Soon, steam was drifting up from the mug.

"How did you do that?" Cassie asked.

"I made the molecules of your drink vibrate really really fast, and the friction that was caused heated it up," the Doctor grinned, before a confused look fell upon his face. "Or… something like that."

Cassie took a sip from her tea, which was now hot. "I never asked you, what is that thing?"

"Oh, this?" the Doctor said, holding up the device proudly. "This is a Sonic Screwdriver. A marvel of Time Lord technology, the Sonic Screwdriver is a multifunctional, multipurpose tool that can alter, change, or activate things of all sorts on a subatomic level." He nodded upon finishing his little speech, but his features fell when he saw the blank look on Cassie's face. "Or – in human terms – it makes a cool noise and things happen."

Cassie squinted at the insult, trying to decide whether it was worth an argument or not. She shook her head and took another sip from her tea.

"Where are we going, anyway?" Cassie asked, moving the conversation along.

The Doctor was at the control console, hitting a few buttons and pulling a few levers. "We're headed to the Delta-Prime Mining Colony, somewhere around the year 3900," he explained. "While a spectacle in its own right, the Mining Colony itself isn't something I think you'd find interesting. No, instead, we'll be spending a night cycle on the Delta-Prime asteroid. During the night solar winds force their way through the artificial atmosphere the colonists have created, and it is this occurrence that gives birth to one of the most spectacular light shows you will ever witness in your life."

"It sounds beautiful," Cassie said.

The Doctor looked at her and smiled. "Oh, it is."

A heavy sound filled the interior of the TARDIS and the Doctor perked up.

"Ah, we've arrived," he made his way to the door, Cassie in tow, before he stopped and turned to face her.

"One thing I should probably tell you," he said. "Should we meet any colonists, it's going to sound like they speak English when, really, they don't. You see, it's kind of freaky, but the TARDIS gets in your head and translates everything you hear into the language you speak, and if you say something it will translate to whatever language the other party speaks."

Cassie was silent for a while. "You're right, that is freaky." She said at last.

"Well, at least we both know I'm right."

"Wait, so all this time have you been speaking English or have I been speaking Time Lord?"

"Uh… I'll leave that one to you, Cassie," the Doctor said.

Cassie held her head in her hands. "My brain hurts."

"You'll get used to it."

Upon finishing his sentence, the TARDIS shook about, throwing the Doctor off his feet and causing Cassie to trip and catch a railing to stop her from seeing the same fate.

"What was that?" Cassie demanded. "I thought you said we'd landed!"

"We have," the Doctor said, obviously confused. "Hold on just a minute."

He opened the door and peaked his head out, Cassie waiting patiently behind him.

After some moments, the Doctor pulled his head back into the TARDIS and faced Cassie, eyes wide. He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out.

"What?" Cassie asked. "What? What is it? What happened?"

"I have good news, and I have… unordinary news," the Doctor said slowly. "The good news is: we've landed on the Delta-Prime Mining Colony at the time period we wanted to land in."

"And the bad news?"

"I didn't say bad, I said unordinary," the Doctor pointed out.

"Whatever, just… what is it?"

The Doctor took a deep breath. "We've landed inside something. A very big something. With lots of teeth." He illustrated the teeth statement by using two fingers on each hand as teeth.

Cassie went white. "Well, can't we get out?"

"I'd love to, but considering I'm lost as to how we even got _inside_ something I'm reluctant to get _outside_ of it because we might hurt it and make it very, very angry," the Doctor rambled.

"So where does that leave us?"

The Doctor sighed. "Stuck in here. But, there _is_ more good news."

"And what would that be?" Cassie asked.

"I have Scrabble."

* * *

"Use the Sonar Pulse to map the tunnels the Worms have used this time," Anderson suggested.

"On it, sir," the redheaded woman said. She typed a few commands, and the pulse was sent through the asteroid.

"Sonar is returning, sir," the man on the other side of the room said.

"Sonar returned," the redhead finished.

"Good. Put the paths on the main monitor," Anderson said.

The man on the other side of the room nodded and pressed a few buttons. A screen that adorned the northernmost wall flickered to life, and an underground map of the Delta-Prime asteroid was displayed.

"Four of them this time?" Anderson asked absently.

"Yes, sir," the redheaded woman said. "They're attacking from the South 1, South 2, East 4, and West 2 tunnels. If they don't leave within the next ten minutes, this mining operation could wind up costing a _lot_ more than the United Earth Government is willing to pay for."

"Dammit," Anderson cursed.

"Shall I boot up the SSC, sir?" the redheaded woman asked.

"No!" Anderson barked. "I have thirteen men trapped in those tunnels, all the SSC would do would kill them. We do not – I repeat, _do not_ – use the weapon until everyone is out of those tunnels. Do you hear me?"

"Sir," the man on the other side of the room interjected. "Our scanners have detected an… anomaly, within one of the Worms."

"What kind of anomaly?" Anderson questioned.

"It's… hard to say…" the man began. "It kind of looks like a blue box. And our scanners say that there is life within the blue box."

"Do you think it's our men?" Anderson was hopeful.

"Can't say, sir."

"Well, what do you suggest we do?" The redheaded woman snapped. "The box is _inside_ the Worm! It's too late to save anyone in there."

"Sir?" The man on the other side of the room addressed the question to Anderson.

"A… blue… box?" Anderson questioned slowly. "How on earth did it get there?"

"My guess is as good as your, sir," the man on the other side of the room shrugged. "My guess is as good as yours…"

* * *

The Doctor and Cassie were lying on the floor of the TARDIS, a Scrabble board between them. It was the Doctor's turn, and after a moment of thought he placed five letters onto the board.

ZYGON

"That's not even a proper word," Cassie said for the seventh time, looking at all of the words the Doctor had placed down before that turn.

"Of course it is," the Doctor defended. "Zygons a race of shape shifting aliens. They're all big and red and rubbery, and all the suckers…" he shivered at the thought.

"And how am I supposed to know that you're not making any of this up?"

"I've been all across the universe, visited innumerable points in time and space, you're really not in the position to question whether or not the words I play on the board are legitimate."

Whatever they were inside decided to move, and the TARDIS moved with it. Scrabble pieces were tossed about the floor, and the board slid out of reach.

"Oh, come on, I was winning!" The Doctor complained.

Cassie shook her head at his theatrics, but was secretly suppressing a grin.

The Doctor groaned, eyeing the door to the TARDIS mischievously.

Cassie noticed the look. "You're not seriously thinking what I think you're thinking?"

"I'm thinking you think I'm thinking about going outside," the Doctor replied.

"Wha-? Yeah, that's exactly what I'm thinking."

"Then you'd be thinking the right thing."

The Doctor strode to the door and opened it slightly, before slipping out.

"Oh, it is _fascinating_ out here," Cassie heard him say.

He ducked back into the TARDIS. "Come have a look." He disappeared again.

Cassie steeled herself, her curiosity getting the better of her. Trying to disregard that when she stepped outside she'd be walking around inside a _thing,_ she clenched her fists and walked briskly for the door.

She exited the TARDIS and was almost repulsed by the stench of metal, oil, saliva, and flesh. The Doctor's idea of fascinating was very different to hers, it seemed.

As for the Doctor, he was walking around, his eyes taking in every detail of the inside of the mouth, an expression of pure, childish glee plastered to his features.

Cassie too looked around.

The light atop the TARDIS was illuminating the inside of the mouth enough for her to make out everything within a few metres. The walls of the mouth were fleshy, with ropes of spit hanging from the ceiling. Massive, blade-like teeth lined the inside of the mouth, all the way around the walls and even some on the roof and on the floor. Near the deepest part of what she could see was a pile of dirty machinery. Drills and hoses and engines all piled up in one spot, oil seeping from the base of the pile as a thicker, greener saliva melted the metal away.

"It's digesting," the Doctor said in Cassie's ear, making her jump in fright.

"Why the _hell_ did you have to sneak up on me like that?" She said, out of instinct more than anything else.

"Dramatic effect," the Doctor grinned, moving away from her.

He pulled out his Sonic Screwdriver and waved it about, the light lighting and the sounds sounding. He then checked it quickly before putting it away.

"What -"

"Am I doing?" The Doctor finished for her. "I'm scanning the thing so that I know what it is. What _is it?_ It is a Rock Worm."

"What's –"

"A Rock Worm? Rock worms are giant worms that live in asteroids that float about in outer space. They normally inhabit asteroids that are rich with metals and minerals, they survive off the stuff. Don't ask me how, I like to eat proper food like most other species of aliens in this universe. Though I do recall one human fellow who liked to eat metal, and was quite good at it too…" He paused to think. "Anyway, Rock Worms are highly territorial. It's an instinct they have, and it's not something they usually have to act upon – I mean, how many people actually try to set something up on an asteroid, am I right? What am I talking about, you don't know that, you only know of humans who have been to the moon. _Anyway_ , from what I can gather, Rock Worms have been living in this asteroid and the Colonists have decided to mine it, causing the Rock Worms to act on instinct and protect their home." He finished with a grin.

Cassie was dumbfounded. "Why do you –"

"Ramble so much? Don't know, just do."

"Could you –"

"Stop finishing your sentences. Noted, understood, zipped and locked." He emphasised the point by miming zipping his mouth shout, locking a padlock, and then throwing away the key.

A ringing sound came from the TARDIS and the Doctor perked up.

"Oo, a ringing noise," he said excitedly, sliding his hands into his pockets as he made his way back to the box.

Cassie made to follow him, but she accidently kicked something as she did so.

She looked down and cringed as she noticed that what she kicked was a giant, fleshy, tastebud. Stepping around it, she continued on her way to the TARDIS.

"Welcome aboard!" the Doctor said upon her arrival. "Again." He added, remembering that she'd been on board before.

He hit a few switches on the control panel and punched a few buttons. "Could you shift gear for me? Gear two." He asked.

Cassie looked at the panel and noticed a gearstick from a car. Mildly surprised, she did as she was asked, shifting the stick from where it was at gear five to where it needed to be at gear two.

"Thank you kindly," the Doctor smiled, dancing over to a different part of the control panel.

"What was the ringing noise?" Cassie asked, relieved that the Doctor hadn't cut her off that time.

"The TARDIS picked up a Beacon," the Doctor said absently, still hitting buttons and pulling levers. He looked at a screen and squinted. "Someone broadcasted their existence to the surrounding area," the Doctor continued. "Using some of the TARDIS' inbuilt… spacey-wacey stuff, we can trace the Beacon back to its source and transport ourselves there."

Cassie had long since stopped listening. She'd been concentrating on not laughing when the Doctor had said 'spacey-wacey'. Unfortunately for her, it was for this reason that she didn't hear what he said next.

"Hold on," he said, and he pulled a lever that was quite bigger than all the others.

The TARDIS rumbled, the groaning and wheezing noise filling the chamber.

Cassie wasn't holding on, and she stumbled and fell.

With a heavy noise the TARDIS landed, and the Doctor pranced to the door.

He stopped at the door and noticed Cassie picking herself up from the floor. He rolled his eyes. "Are you going to lie around all day or can we go outside?" He asked impatiently.

Cassie glowered at the Time Lord, but picked herself up quickly and rushed to his side.

The Doctor mentally counted to three and then swung open the door.

"Hello!" He called, but was cut short when he saw the gun barrel pointed at his face.

* * *

"Oh, guns," the queer fellow from the box said distastefully. "I really, truly, honestly, do not have a fondness for guns…"

Him and his blonde companion didn't look too threatening, Anderson decided, but then… they _had_ materialized out of nowhere.

The mans eyes fell upon Anderson and his face lit up.

"Craig Anderson," the man said. "How wonderful to see you again, here of all places."

He took a step forward, which prompted the soldiers on Anderson's sides to ready their weapons. The man took a step back and raised his hands carefully. His companion followed suit.

"Stand down," Anderson said to his men.

"Sir?"

"I said stand down!"

The soldiers lowered their weapons and took a step back, putting space between themselves, their superior, and the newcomers.

"Thanks boys," the man nodded, clapping his hands together.

"Doctor, do you know him?" The mans companion asked.

"I most certainly do," the man replied quietly. "This man is Craig Anderson. A very dear friend of mine." He turned his attention back to Anderson and took his hand, shaking it firmly.

"I'm sorry, do I know you?" Anderson questioned, feeling a growing suspicion that the man in front of him was quite insane.

The man in front of him looked taken aback.

"'Do I know you?'" He repeated, mocking Anderson's question. "Am I really _that_ forgettable? Of course you know me! I'm the Doctor! We've only saved about half a dozen colonies together! How do you forget that?"

Anderson's blank expression was all the Doctor needed.

He checked his watch.

"Oooohhh," the Doctor realized. "My past, your future, I get it. Hey, how are the kids?"

Anderson's eyes narrowed. "Men!"

The soldiers raised their guns again.

"Whoa! Again with the guns," the Doctor said, raising his hands once more.

"You listen to me, _sir._ I have no idea who you are, I've never met you before in my life, but what I'm getting is that you and your wench over there have been looking in on me and my family for reasons unknown," Anderson spat.

"Wench?!" Cassie scowled, lowering her arms. "Did I hear that right? Did you actually just call me a wench?"

She made to step towards Anderson, but the Doctor blocked her.

"You were quick to come to that conclusion," the Doctor said quickly. "You've always been level-headed Anderson, but you assume things too quickly when it comes to your family –"

"Shut up!" Anderson yelled. "You must be some sort of demon, some sort of alien imposter. You appear in a time of crisis out of nowhere… It's up to me as the leader of this Colony to put you down!"

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Even now, humans are still superstitious. You know, the future you neglected to tell me that _this_ is how we met."

"Fire at will," Anderson ordered his men.

"Wait, no, I'm here to help!" The Doctor said frantically.

"Ready," one of the soldiers called, raising his gun. "Aim…"

An earthquake rocked the Command Room, causing sirens to begin to blare once again.

Everyone in the room stumbled, trying with much difficulty to remain on their own two feet. Finally, the shaking ceased.

"Doctor, what's going on?" Cassie asked slowly, after the shaking had finished.

"It's the Worms…" the Doctor explained. "They're tearing apart the Colony."

"That explains the machinery in the Worms' mouth…" Cassie linked the dots.

"Aye," the Doctor nodded, which won a raised eyebrow from Cassie.

"Men," Anderson commanded.

The soldiers raised their guns.

The Doctor rolled his eyes, and in a blink the Sonic Screwdriver was in his hands. He pointed the Sonic at each of the guns, and with a spark they all dropped from the soldiers hands.

The soldiers all recoiled in shock, and the Doctor held his Screwdriver to his lips and blew, before putting it in his jacket and shooting a winning smile at Cassie, who tried not to laugh.

"Listen to me, Anderson," the Doctor looked to the Colony leader, who was just as surprised as his soldiers. "I picked up your Beacon when I was inside that Worm. My spaceship – my TARDIS – traced it back, it led me here. It picked up the distress signals of thirteen of your men, thirteen men who are trapped down there in the mine tunnels. I can get them out. I'm here to help. You have my word."

Anderson looked at the man in front of him. The man that not two minutes before he had demonized, had almost shot. He thought to himself how funny it was that ones opinion of someone could change in but a moment. He looked at the man in front of him now and saw someone genuine, and noble.

"You really think you can help us?" Anderson asked.

"I do," the Doctor said, not missing a beat.

"Sir. You can't seriously be considering _buying into_ this mans lies?" the redheaded woman asked, appalled.

Anderson shook the Doctor's hand. "Welcome aboard, Doctor."

Anderson turned to the control panel and typed in some commands. In a second a map of the Delta-Prime asteroid and a logbook of incidents appeared on the main monitor.

"Since we started mining a month ago, the Worms have been a thorn in our side," Anderson rattled off. "We've had nine incidents, all of growing severity. It's at the point where the Worms are jeopardizing our entire operation here. If we could just get rid of the Worms…" He trailed off as he heard the Doctor's laughter.

Everyone in the room looked at the Doctor with odd expressions.

"You humans, you're brilliant, you really are, but you're all so thick, and arrogant, and superior," the Doctor shook his head. "Your species survives until the End of the Universe and then some, but here you are, still of the ideology that if you simply arrive and stick a flag in the ground everything belongs to you. It's all so… cute, in an almost grotesque way… "

"Excuse me?" Anderson asked, his voice raised. "The Worms have been _destroying_ us for a whole month now!"

"That's because you've been destroying them! Their home at least," the Doctor matched Anderson's tone. "You've arrived at this asteroid looking for metals and minerals, you've stuck drills in the ground and transformed a living creatures _home_ into an industrial Colony! It's like you don't expect to have to deal with nature fighting back. The Rock Worms have been living inside these kinds of asteroids for millennia, surviving the harshness of space by some pure, beautiful miracle. You've come to their home _uninvited_! All this destruction… it's just you getting what you deserve."

A thick, heavy silence filled the room. Everyone was speechless at what the Doctor had said. Guilt weighed on them as they realized the full gravity of what it was they'd done.

Cassie looked on with surprise, shock, and awe as the Doctor put everyone in their place. She even felt some sense of shame. After all, it was _her_ race who had put them in this situation. And even though it was part of humanity's future, similar circumstances were part of their history as well.

"If we save everyone on this asteroid, Anderson," the Doctor said at last. "We do it my way. Don't make me challenge you to fisticuffs."

Cassie facepalmed.

 _Way to shut down the meaning of what you were just saying, Doctor._

"What do you suggest we do?" Anderson said at length.

"Where's the closest Colony to here?" the Doctor asked.

"Hercules," the man on the other side of the room piped in. "A planet caught between two solar systems. We set up an outpost there a few decades ago."

"A planet caught between two solar systems?" the Doctor said absently. "That can't be safe. I love it. Anderson," he turned back to the Colony leader. "You need to evacuate everyone here on Delta-Prime. Everyone needs to go, alright?"

Anderson nodded.

"Felicity, send out the evacuation warning," he ordered.

"But –" the redheaded woman started.

"Just do it! I want everyone off this asteroid within half an hour."

The Doctor nodded in approval, and he bumped his shoulder against Cassie, who grinned.

The redheaded woman grumbled, but did as she was told.

Another earthquake shook the Command Room.

"The Worms are getting more aggressive, sir," the man on the other side of the room said. "We need to get the thirteen miners out of the asteroid, stat!"

"Not a problem, leave it to me," the Doctor said with a smile of confidence. "Anderson, I'll see you once everyone has been evacuated. Cassie," he held an arm out towards the TARDIS. "After you."

Cassie curtsied politely and then entered the blue box.

The Doctor followed, and everyone in the Command Room watched as the blue box slowly vanished.

* * *

Chronologically, the Doctor and Cassie saved all thirteen of the trapped miners within a couple of seconds of each other, but in reality it took about ten minutes. When the Doctor explained this to her, Cassie was mightily confused, but on the third time the Doctor explained it she was finally getting it.

 _I guess I'm gonna have to get used to this stuff,_ she thought to herself.

The duo had landed on a space station that was orbiting the planet Hercules, and all thirteen trapped miners were all sent to the on board infirmary for medical checks.

Anderson stood with the Doctor, looking out of one of the space stations many windows at the nearby rock that was the Delta-Prime Mining Colony.

"The United Earth Government won't be too happy about your decision, Doctor," Anderson mused. "There were trillions of dollars worth of metals in that asteroid."

"I do hope you change your outlook on the situation, Anderson," the Doctor said.

"Consider it changed," Anderson responded. "What you said about humans on that asteroid, it got me thinking… You're not wrong, Doctor. We do have a tendency to take what's not ours."

"Well, Anderson," the Doctor smiled, patting the man on the back. "I'm glad you see it that way. And I hope you find it within yourself to make a difference to the Galaxy."

The two stared out into the nothingness of space.

"You saved us, Doctor," Anderson said at last.

"It's kind of what I do," the Doctor chuckled. "I just… turn up, and everything happens after that. At least today everything turned out ok…"

The Doctor turned to go.

Anderson sighed, thinking over the strange mans words.

"Doctor," he called.

The Doctor turned.

"You said that you knew me. When we first met, I mean. How… does that work?"

"Your future, Anderson," the Doctor said. "My past. It's confusing, to say the least. Oh, the future you has a moustache. You might want to get on that."

The Doctor clicked his fingers, pointing at Anderson.

"I'll see you later, Anderson," he said, turning again.

"And you, Doctor," Anderson responded, watching as the man entered his box.

* * *

Cassie waited inside the TARDIS for the Doctor, just as she'd been asked.

When the Time Lord entered, he did so with a solemn look on his face.

"Hey," Cassie said softly. "You alright?"

"Of course," the Doctor responded. "Today, it just… reminded me of something, that's all."

"You did well today," Cassie said with a smile. "What you said, it was the truth. You helped make the right decision. You saved a lot of people."

The Doctor returned the smile.

"Come on," he said, pulling a lever. "We have a light show to catch."

* * *

They returned to the Delta-Prime Mining Colony. Even though Cassie had seen very little of it, it was a little unsettling for her to see it abandoned.

The atmosphere generator was still sustaining an oxygen field around the asteroid, and would do so for the next twenty years – or so the Doctor said.

Cassie and the Doctor stood on the bare rock beneath their feet, the TARDIS sitting behind them, jazz music flowing from its open door.

"So what are we looking for?" Cassie asked.

"You'll know it when you see it," the Doctor smiled, checking his watch. "In three… two… one…"

Suddenly it was as if the sky was alive with the light of a thousand different rainbows. The streams of light danced like rivers of fire across the sky, blotting out the stars and throwing shades of blue and orange across the surface of the asteroid.

The Doctor nudged Cassie and pointed.

Her eyes followed his finger, and she caught her breath at what she saw. And smiled.

The Rock Worms had surfaced to watch the light show.

It was then, in that moment, with the lights, and the Worms, and the music, that inspired Cassie to do what she did next.

As the lights danced about the sky, so too did Cassie.

She danced.


End file.
